Google value plunges by $500bn as AI fears rattle Wall Street

Google parent Alphabet lost just over $500bn (£374bn) in value on Thursday after it rattled Wall Street with its last update of the year on its business operations. Google spooked investors so badly that its stock hit a six-month low, after it revealed its artificial intelligence (AI) summaries on search were affecting ad revenue. Microsoft and Amazon also updated investors this week, and joined Google in plans to keep spending astronomical sums of cash in an ongoing AI race. But investors appeared dismayed at the impacts these plans are having on the ability of each to keep growing their core lines of business. At first glance, the quarterly results of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, were not at all bad.